Liquid reverse sweep Stage 2 to qualify for Stage 3 in Budapest!
It was a matchup of two of 2019's best organizations in the 2-2 round at StarLadder Budapest Stage 2. Both sides got off to less-than-ideal starts in this stage, as they both battled back from 0-2 records to 2-2.
It was Liquid who took control from early on in the series and managed to hold on to that momentum throughout the series.
Astralis' map pick was Nuke, but you'd be forgiven if you thought it was Liquid's. Liquid started off their CT side with six rounds in a row, lost one, then ended the half with another five-round spree. The second half wasn't as pretty for Liquid, but their dominant first half afforded them that luxury. Astralis won six of seven rounds to start the second period, but Liquid closed out the map without much drama, 13-7.
Astralis required a win on Liquid's pick of Mirage to stay alive in the series. The Danes started with four rounds in a row, but Liquid answered with four of their own to level up the scores. Liquid took a slight advantage at halftime with a 7-5 lead. Both teams battled for an advantage in the second half, with Astralis taking a lead at 8-7 before Liquid bounced back again to put themselves into the final group stage with a 13-9 win on Mirage.
Polish sniper Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak dominated in the series, going 39-20 with a stellar 1.54 rating.
LiquidAstralis| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
39 - 20 | +19 | 91.2 | 78.6% | 1.54 |
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
33 - 27 | +6 | 82.4 | 76.2% | 1.16 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
31 - 27 | +4 | 80.2 | 64.3% | 1.13 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
25 - 26 | -1 | 66.7 | 76.2% | 1.12 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
24 - 23 | +1 | 63.5 | 73.8% | 1.09 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Victor 'Staehr' Staehr |
31 - 31 | +0 | 83.5 | 54.8% | 1.05 |
| Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard |
30 - 30 | +0 | 71.5 | 71.4% | 1.00 |
| Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen |
21 - 31 | -10 | 53.2 | 59.5% | 0.79 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
23 - 31 | -8 | 62.4 | 64.3% | 0.75 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
17 - 29 | -12 | 61.1 | 66.7% | 0.64 |
Liquid will be back in action in Stage 3 starting on Thursday, December 4th.
